Early: possible replacements?

[appchicago]

Dwayne Ledford grew up and has family an hour away.Tim Horton has just about always wanted to be the HMIC.Stacey Searles may want to come back as HC. Any of those could rally the troops and keep the momentum going. And there are others.

These three—especially Horton—have me excited. I know they’re not head coaches and this sounds like a revisionist take now that we know he won’t be coming to Boone, but I think I’d consider any of them ahead of Houston, who was my go-to pick for the job if Satt left (back when this was all hypothetical).

[97APP]

Dwayne Ledford grew up and has family an hour away.Tim Horton has just about always wanted to be the HMIC.Stacey Searles may want to come back as HC. Any of those could rally the troops and keep the momentum going. And there are others.

These three—especially Horton—have me excited. I know they’re not head coaches and this sounds like a revisionist take now that we know he won’t be coming to Boone, but I think I’d consider any of them ahead of Houston, who was my go-to pick for the job if Satt left (back when this was all hypothetical).

Agree, if we go outside of our current staff - these three I would be excited about especially Horton.

[AppfaninCAALand]

Every name I've seen has been current or former App staff. When a program is successful and going well like ours, I agree that staying "in the family" would be best. I like Ledford or one of our current guys. Horton sounds good, but I wonder why he hasn't gotten a HC gig up to now.

But that being said, I was talking to a Hokie Pokie co-worker of mine this morning, and it occurred to me that if we wanted to go "outside the family", we should give a look to Shane Beamer, Frank's son. He is the associate head coach at Oklahoma, has a long successful coaching career at VT and in the SEC, has ties to the region, and was considered for VT's opening a few years back.

The HC at Elon might be a good option as well.

Just thinking outside the box.

[appstate24]

Of the obvious names, my top 2 in no particular order...

Ledford-players absolutely loved him when he was here. Has experience as a coordinator as well. Local guy and I think he could keep some of the staff together is an added plus.

Horton- knows the culture has extensive P5 experience and think he could elevate recruiting. Sounds like he could keep some of the staff together as well. The fact that he wants to retire here is nice. Only worry is why has he never been elevated to a coordinator position?

**I truly hope regardless of who we get, we can keep Coach Brown. I truly believe he is a rising star, love his competitiveness.

GO APPS!!

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Ledford or bust for me. Wasn't he the one that brought the zone blocking scheme to App that saw Marcus Cox run for over 1400 yards in consecutive seasons in App's first two seasons in the FBS and rank top 20 in the FBS in rushing attack and one of the top efficient O-Lines in the FBS? Also, while at NC State as RB's and O-line coach, Matt Dayes, Jaylen Samuels, Hines, and Gallaspy were all successful RB's under his watch. 3 of those are on NFL rosters right now and Gallaspy is currently on the team, so can't be on an NFL roster.

[EastHallApp]

The plus side for TH is that he is another Dale Jones. He want to be here and never leave.

I know some posters know Horton personally. I do not, and don't know that much about him. That said, I'm as skeptical of this "this is his dream job, he'll never leave" stuff as I was when people said it about Satt.

Dreams change. It's easy to say you'll never leave when you're chasing the job. Let him (or any of these guys) have a couple good years and have P5s start throwing $3 million plus at them and see if they decide differently than Satt did.

[EastHallApp]

What about Shawn Elliott? Fiery guy with a lot of passion?

Check his career record as a HC and get back to us.

There is literally nothing in Elliott's resume that suggests we should consider him for HC. If we're ever in the market for an OL coach and he's looking for work, by all means bring him in.

[Yosef84]

Interesting that we have two on the list who are OL coaches (three if you include Elliott). I wonder if Ledford or Searels could help bring a couple of big'uns with them to help us in those red zone situations.

Horton coached at App back in the "pre spread" days at App but Auburn uses a Spread type offense and is known for doing some interesting stuff with it (like two back sets and going under center occasionally).

I have no idea if this list even resembles the one being used by DG but I think we're going to land a good one. I just have a feeling (in-apologetic optimist).

[proasu89]

Interesting that we have two on the list who are OL coaches (three if you include Elliott). I wonder if Ledford or Searels could help bring a couple of big'uns with them to help us in those red zone situations.

Horton coached at App back in the "pre spread" days at App but Auburn uses a Spread type offense and is known for doing some interesting stuff with it (like two back sets and going under center occasionally).

I have no idea if this list even resembles the one being used by DG but I think we're going to land a good one. I just have a feeling (in-apologetic optimist).

4th and inches under center, sounds like a good idea to me.

[EastHallApp]

Searels is another one I don't get. Aside from the fact that he's a career OL coach:

- Miami's OL was a train wreck this year.
- Prior stop was Va. Tech during the dying days of the Beamer era.
- Before that he was at Texas when they fell apart in Mack Brown's last years.
- Before that he was at Georgia when they slumped so badly they nearly fired Richt.

His last decade-plus has been spent at a series of big-name programs that have underachieved while he was there. What's the case for him to be a HC?

[proasu89]

Interesting that we have two on the list who are OL coaches (three if you include Elliott). I wonder if Ledford or Searels could help bring a couple of big'uns with them to help us in those red zone situations.

Horton coached at App back in the "pre spread" days at App but Auburn uses a Spread type offense and is known for doing some interesting stuff with it (like two back sets and going under center occasionally).

I have no idea if this list even resembles the one being used by DG but I think we're going to land a good one. I just have a feeling (in-apologetic optimist).

4th and inches under center, sounds like a good idea to me.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Ledford! Ledford! Ledford!

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Here are my top choices:
1. Ledford
2. Ledford
3. Ledford
4. Sloan
5. Woody
6. Brown/Ivey
...
15. Horton
16. Elliot
17. Searles
18. Ruffin

[Woodstovegang]

Nate Woody

[AppSt94]

The plus side for TH is that he is another Dale Jones. He want to be here and never leave.

I know some posters know Horton personally. I do not, and don't know that much about him. That said, I'm as skeptical of this "this is his dream job, he'll never leave" stuff as I was when people said it about Satt.

Dreams change. It's easy to say you'll never leave when you're chasing the job. Let him (or any of these guys) have a couple good years and have P5s start throwing $3 million plus at them and see if they decide differently than Satt did.

He reportedlyy blew the committee away when he interviewed in 2012. But the job was pretty much decided by then.

[StinklikeRoses]

Since you guys are new at this, I'm going to share something to keep you buzzing as your coaching search hits high gear:

https://flightaware.com/

You don't know coaching search drama until you start tracking chartered flights out of obscure airstrips and connecting imaginary dots to the guys on your rumored short list.

[AppSt94]

Since you guys are new at this, I'm going to share something to keep you buzzing as your coaching search hits high gear:

https://flightaware.com/

You don't know coaching search drama until you start tracking chartered flights out of obscure airstrips and connecting imaginary dots to the guys on your rumored short list.

We don’t have the budget for air travel. Gillin travels via Greyhound. The official sponsor of App State Head Coach searches.

[spong]

I know people don't like these kind of autonomous sources but I know Ruffin McNeill was privately talking with some NC sports reporters about the job with weekend.

Take that for what you want. It also doesn't mean App State has any interest talking to him.

I think McNeill is a great coach that built a great program at ECU. When they made the transition to the AAC he had to up his recruiting and signed some transfer students that he never should have touched. These types of things would need to be addressed in the job interview but he is a good recruiter and a good football coach.

[asu1978]

Dwayne Ledford is a McDowell County boy(Where I grew up and live today).As much as I would like to see local boy make good,let's take our time and find the right fit for us.The W-S journal listed some great coaches for us to ponder.

[8993]

I'm really interested in Ledford... again.